


one bright spot

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Captivity, Community: comment_fic, F/M, References season two finale, Secret Relationship, mentions of past trauma, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:20:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Zoom's lair is dark and cold but two people find some light in the darkness.





	one bright spot

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: episode titles  
> Prompt: The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, Black As Cole(Charmed)  
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/803008.html?thread=102683072#t102683072

This time of night, Zoom's lair is dark and cold, damp seeping through the walls, up through the stone floor. Caitlin's learned not to sit with her back against the wall of her cell, has learned how best to wrap the thin blanket around her body to best trap in some semblance of heat as she lies on the thin mattress that has definitely seen better days. Still though, she's cold all the time, from the inside as well as out, cold from the fear that she'll never see her home, her friends again, the fear that Zoom will win and kill them all, her included. Or the worst fear of all - that he will win and she'll have to live in the ashes of the world she once knew, a world where the ghosts of her friends haunt her every waking moment. 

She tries not to think of that but here like this, the cold seeping into her bones and the night as black as coal, she can't help it. 

A roar of wind and a flash of blue lightning signify Zoom's return and cold or no cold, Caitlin shrinks back against the wall. It's so dark the lightning hurts her eyes and she screws them shut. Zoom's voice cuts through the fear and darkness, harsh and mocking. 

"Brought you some company," he says and and just like that, the cell door is open and someone is flung in beside her. There's a huff of breath from them as they land heavily on the ground and from that she knows it's man but she doesn't know who until there's another bright blue flash as Zoom vanishes and another, more familiar voice pierces the darkness. 

"Who's there?" 

"Joe?" This close, she can just about make out the outline of his body and that's familiar too, so familiar it turns his name into a sob. 

"Caitlin?" She can hear him shuffling, like he's trying to find out where she is, trying to get to her, but she knows the layout of this cell, isn't disoriented like he is and she finds him first, her hands curling around his forearms. He gasps and pulls her close to him all in one smooth movement and he's warm, so wonderfully warm in the cold of the room that she wraps her arms around his waist greedily, holds on tight. 

"Are you ok?" he asks her after she doesn't know how long, and at the same time she asks him, "What are you doing here?" They both laugh, pull away from each other a little and she moves away from him, not too far, just enough that she can scrabble around on the ground for the blanket that had fallen from her shoulders when she'd gone to him. When she finds it, she takes his hand, pulls him gently towards her mattress and they both sink down on to it. He's still wearing his coat, she can feel that thick material against her skin so when he braces his back against the wall of the cell, she doesn't warn him against it. She does, however, press herself against his side, curls into him and wraps the blanket around them both. He helps her arrange it so they're both snugly enclosed and only when the heat of his body is enveloping them both does he speak again. 

"Are you ok?" It's the same question he's already asked and the clouds must have shifted over the moon because there's a faint hint of light now, enough that she can just about make out his features. He's frowning as he looks down at her and she marshals all her bravery as she nods. 

"I'm ok," she says and he chuckles with no humour attached to it. 

"I can hardly see your face and I still know you're lying," he says flatly. 

She'd blush if there was any spare heat in her body but she doesn't bother denying it. Of course she's not all right, she's currently the furthest from all right she's ever been. "What happened?" she asks him and he sighs heavily. 

"We tried to capture him," he tells her. "It didn't go so well. He pulled me in here with him." He sighs again. "We agreed... if something happened... if the plan didn't work... we'd close the portal. No rescue missions." 

The words hang heavy in the air between them and the temperature in the room drops a couple of degrees. Caitlin shivers and Joe pulls her tighter against him. She closes her eyes as she drops her head to his shoulder, feels his hand reach up to cup the back of her head. "You know they're not going to keep to that." 

"I figured." She fancies she can hear a smile in his voice but she doesn't look up to check if she's right. 

There follows a few moments of quiet between them, where the only sounds she can hear are the beating of Joe's heart under her ear and the movement of her hair as his fingers move through it. Then his voice, quiet and soft - "Has he hurt you?" 

She shakes her head against his chest. "Not like you mean." His other hand, the one that's not in her hair, tightens against her, almost like he doesn't believe her. It's the truth though - Zoom hasn't laid a hand on her since he'd first taken her. "He says he loves me," she tells him and he snorts. "He told me I could leave... in the precinct, he told me I could walk out, he wouldn't try to stop me..." Tears sting her eyes and she has to swallow hard. "I was too scared to try." 

Joe shifts under the blanket, brings their lower bodies into closer contact. "You did the right thing," he tells her and she wants to believe him, wants it more than she's wanted anything in a very long time. "He's a psychopath- you can't believe a word he says." 

"A psychopath I shared a bed with." The words are out before she can stop them and she think she'd be embarrassed if it wasn't for the fact that the words have awakened memories she's tried so hard to suppress. She can almost feel Jay's - Zoom's, she reminds herself - hands on her body, feel his lips moving over her skin, feel him moving inside her. It's enough to make her stomach turn and she shudders. "How could I not have known?" 

"Hey..." His hand moves to her cheek, ever so gently slides down under her chin, lifting it up to him. "You couldn't have known." His voice is as gentle as his touch but it brooks no argument and a single tear tracks its way down her cheek. "He fooled all of us." 

"It's not the same." She doesn't try to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She doesn't have to, not with him. "I trusted him... I let him in." She doesn't do that easily, never has.

"I know." His fingers still on her hair and he hesitates before he speaks again. When he does, his voice is low, careful, almost like he's afraid to speak, whether because of how she'll react or who might be listening, she doesn't know. "Caitlin... did you ever tell him..."

His voice trails off but she knows where he's going with, shakes her head even as she drops it down, buries it in his chest. "No." Her voice is as quiet as his had been, quieter even. "He doesn't know." 

She can't see his face but she can sense his doubt. "Are you sure?" 

She nods against his chest, presses herself closer against him, as much for reassurance as for warmth. "I'm sure." A terrible truth takes weight in her heart. "If he knew about us, you'd be dead already." 

It's Joe's turn to shiver then but he doesn't contradict her. Instead his lips press a kiss to the top of her head and she closes her eyes as she pushes the memories of Jay out of her mind, replaces them with the all too few memories of Joe holding her, much like he's doing now. It hadn't happened often - whatever it was they were or might have been, it had ended almost before it began, fear of what Iris and Barry would think, fear of what everyone who knew them would think leading them to agree that they were better off as friends. They'd done the right thing, she does know that, but she'd be lying if she said that she never wonders about what might have been if they'd been just a little braver. 

She wouldn't be here for a start. 

"We're going to get out of this." His voice might be a whisper in the dark of the cage, but it's the one spot of light that she has to hold on to. So she holds on to him just as tightly and tries to believe that. 

When he's there with her, it's a little easier.


End file.
